One Step At A Time
by Midnight Blue Raven
Summary: Becoming a top lethal ninja meant sacrificing certain things, such as family, friends and love; she learnt that firsthand. When there seemed to be no hope for her, he steps into her life and taking one step at a time, shows her how to love again.
1. Clueless

**Name of Title:** One Step At A Time  
**Type:** Romance, Humor, Drama.  
**Author:** Midnight Blue Raven  
**Characters:** Naruto Cast with Hatake Kakashi and a fictional character as the main characters.  
**Category:** Fanfiction  
**Rated:** M (Rated for a reason!)  
**Status:** On-going  
**Summary: **Becoming a top lethal ninja meant sacrificing certain things, such as family, friends and love; she learnt that firsthand. When there seemed to be no hope for her, he steps into her life and taking one step at a time, shows her how to feel again, love again.

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Hi everyone! I'm Rachel! And this is my first time writing a Naruto fanfic. I recently became a fan of Naruto and since I've been writing fanfics for 4 years, once I get addicted to something, I always get new ideas for more fanfics. lol. The title was inspired by Jordin Spark's song with the same name. Well, some of you may know me if you read Teen Titans fanfics.

Anyways, I hope you will all enjoy reading this fanfiction as much as I enjoy writing it. I would also like to thank Amarxlen for beta-ing this fanfic. Seriously, she nearly burnt me to a crisp when I first sent her my chapter. But I'm thankful as she's trying to prevent me from getting flamed by you guys. Enjoy!

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01 / Clueless**_

Uchiha Sasuke pushed the door of the bar open as he stepped in. As usual, the bar was full, being the only one in this small village. The air was heavy with the scent of smoke, alcohol and other stuff he didn't want to find out. He slowly walked over to the counter, took a seat, and ordered some warm sake.

Sasuke was now 15 years old. He'd been freed from Orochimaru's control and had became a missing nin. Drinking his sake, he thought back to the death of his brother, Uchiha Itachi. It had only taken place about a week ago. Actually, many things had taken place in the previous few weeks.

When Uchiha Madara had told him about Konoha being the reason for killing his clan, Sasuke had vowed to make Konoha pay if it was the last thing he did. But trying to fulfill this ambition was harder done than said.

As of the moment, he had nowhere to go and no one to turn to. Madara had offered him the position of his brother in Akatsuki. He wasn't going back to Konoha and neither was he going to join the Akatsuki. He was still pretty clueless to what he was going to do. He'd spent the whole week drinking and going around the village, thinking of ways to destroy Konoha.

The door to the bar opened, filling the dark room with light from the outside. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the sudden brightness and watched as a figure stepped into the bar. Not caring who it was, he turned back to his sake and gulped down a glass. He noticed the figure take the vacant seat beside him but disregarded it as nothing.

"One medium container of chilled sake." A woman's voice, soft yet full of authority.

The bartender looked at her as if she were crazy. No one in their right mind ordered cold sake. The taste was too bitter for anyone to handle. "Are you sure about that?"

"I like it chilled. Brings out the bitter taste." She answered shortly.

The woman placed her hands on the counter and Sasuke noticed the bindings around her wrist before her hands disappeared into the fingerless gloves, with metal plates to protect the back of her palm. A ninja, no doubt.

From the corner of his eyes, Sasuke studied her. Her long sleeved white coat, that reached her ankles, hid her attire and body, as well as her weapons. She had long, dark blue hair that was in a French braid and hung loosely behind her. A few strands of hair, that were too short to be braided, fell in front of her face, hiding the left side of it.

Sasuke noticed a hitai-ate around her forehead, but was unable to tell from which village she was, since he was watching her from the side. He sat up from his previous slouched position to try to peek at her hitai-ate but her voice stopped him.

"Uchiha Sasuke, I thought you weren't interested in other people's business." Her voice cut through the silence.

Sasuke's eyes widened a little as he watched her gulp down a glass of cold sake and exhale deeply. He quickly hid his surprise and only replied with a "Hn."

Despite his lack of reply, she knew she had his full attention. "Whatever Madara told you was a lie. Konoha is not our enemy."

Sasuke's brows furrowed. How did this woman know what Madara had told him? Was she spying on him? Moreover, why did she say _**our**_ enemy? "How do you know these things?"

"I know because he told me the same thing a few years ago." She finished the rest of her sake and took out a few ryos and placed them on the counter. "Well, my time is limited and I need to get going. But remember what I told you, Konoha is not our enemy."

Sasuke was more confused than he had ever been. He couldn't understand anything at all. "You can't leave yet. I demand you to explain everything to me!" He demanded as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards him until they were mere inches apart, but she effortlessly pulled her wrist out of his grasp. He noticed that she was still avoiding eye contact for some reason though.

"I think you already found out too much on our first date." He couldn't help rolling his eyes. She was so full of herself, probably smirking at him. "I'll explain more thoroughly on our second date."

All through their conversation, he noticed that, not once had she looked at him. He didn't even know how she looked. "Wait, what makes you think I'll want to meet you again?" Sasuke was however, unprepared for what he was about to see next.

"Because I know you want to find out more about the assassination of the Uchiha clan; who really ordered your brother to kill them." She paused for a brief moment. "Go back to Konoha. I'm on my way there myself. If I find you there on my arrival and you are still interested in finding out, then I will tell you everything that I know. But I have to warn you though, I have a lot of errands to do first and you might have to wait for a while before I turn up in Konoha." Sasuke gasped as his eyes widened noticeably.

She had turned to look at him now. And he finally saw the symbol on her hitai-ate; the leaf symbol. But that was not what had surprised him, nor was it her beautiful face. What had nearly thrown him of his chair with shock was neither of them. No, the thing that had taken him by surprise was her eyes. Because staring straight at him were a pair of……… Sharingan.

There were three tomoe in each eye, proving that she had reached the highest level of her Sharingan and all the tomoe were spinning lazily in both eyes.

Before Sasuke could find his voice and the will to say anything, she broke the silence once more. Looking at the still dazed Uchiha, she finally said what she had come to tell him.

"I hope to see you soon in Konoha."

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5 years later**_

A strong gust of wind blew over the desert. It was nighttime and the temperature was dropping as expected of the desert. A lone figure continued to move through the never-ending sand. The figure was cloaked and the hood concealed the person's face.

As the figure neared the edge of the forest, which was the border of the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire, the tree branches around started to shake vigorously. In the blink of an eye, two silhouettes jumped down for the branches and stood before the cloaked figure.

Both of them had kunai and shuriken holsters, meaning they were ninja and their hitai-ates proved that they were from the village hidden in the sound. One was a woman and the other, a man, who threw off his cloak as he spoke to the cloaked figure standing before him.

"Well, this is a surprise. I thought you'd be taking a break by now and we wanted to attack you while you slept."

"You should know by now that I don't sleep that much." The cloaked figure replied, and the voice hinted that it was a woman.

"Too bad then, we're going to have to take you down and carry you back to Orochimaru."

"If you had expected to win, I think there was more of a chance to take me down back in the desert. But here, in the woods, your chances of winning are low. Not that your chances were high in the first place," the cloaked woman spoke as she pulled back her hood to reveal a pale, emotionless face and two sapphire blue eyes staring back at them through her dark blue strands.

"Why don't you just come with us? I'd hate to scar that pretty face of yours," the sound kunoichi spoke for the first time since their encounter.

"You'd be considered lucky if you could even touch a strand of my hair without dying," the woman with the blue hair retorted back. "Shall we start then?"

Soon the two sound ninjas found themselves targeted by a large number of shuriken coming form every direction. They quickly evaded all of them and turned towards the blue-haired woman. She had already discarded her cloak and stood calmly before them.

"Really, is that all you've got? I was expecting more from an experienced jonin such as you," the male sound ninja spoke. A dry chuckle erupted deep from his throat, showing that indeed, he was amused by her attack.

In a flash, the female sound ninja appeared behind the woman and tried to take her by surprise. But the moment her kunai came in contact with her victim, the woman turned into water and only a puddle remained before her.

"Huh? It's a water clone!" She shouted to her partner to alert him as well.

The male ninja started looking around and finally sensed his prey's chakra. She was hiding on a branch of a tree to his right and he ran and kicked the trunk with his chakra, making the whole tree shake. And then, he threw a few shuriken towards the higher part of the tree.

The blue-haired kunoichi jumped from her previous hiding place to another tree, understanding the fact that the sound ninja had found her hiding place. She quietly landed on the ground and did some hand signs.

The two sound ninja turned to their right to find a huge fireball coming towards them straight on. They quickly evaded it and threw more shuriken in the direction from which the fireball had come. Then the female of the two took out a flute and starting blowing air into it, which caused large waves of vibrating air to exit from the other end.

The blue-haired woman cursed as she evaded the vibrating waves, but doing so had allowed a shuriken to strike her in her exposed, bare arm. She quickly pulled it out and threw it towards the ground. "Now, you've done it! No more games." She yelled to no one in particular as she performed a large number of hand seals.

With that said, before they could say anything, the two sound ninjas found themselves enclosed in large bubbles of water. From the corner of their eyes, they noticed the woman walking towards them.

"How do you like my special jutsu?," she spoke as her victims started struggling and grunting for air in their water prisons. "I modified the water prison jutsu. This one disables and absorbs all your chakra and no hand signs will work while you are inside it. That'll teach you to mess with me again."

She watched as her victims attempted to break out of her hold. Finally, when she was sure that they were going to die from lack of air, she released the jutsu and let them fall limp to the ground.

The male sound ninja still had strength to look up at her face, with nothing but fear in his eyes. He coughed up water from his mouth before speaking in a rasp voice. "But how? There's no water outlet around here. We'd made sure of that."

The woman standing before him let out a chuckle. "I told you that your chances of defeating me were low in the forest. Look around you," she spoke as she waved her hands mildly around her. "This is a forest, hence it is full of plants and moisture. I could turn the moisture back into water or I could extract the water from inside of the plants."

Letting her gaze stop on the ninja's face for a few seconds, she sighed. She couldn't even travel from one village to another without getting attacked by the enemy. She motioned for him to get up and he did.

She didn't feel like killing them while she had an advantage. It seemed wrong to her somehow. She quickly engaged in a battle of hand-to-hand combat with him. But the already exhausted ninja could not keep up with her and soon found himself in a death grip.

Swiftly, with her chakra-induced fingers, she gave a slight pressure on one particular place of his spine, earning her a small crack before he fell limp to the forest floor. She had learnt during her training that if the right amount of pressure was applied to this certain point, the bone segment in that place would fall out of the spine, hence snapping any vital arteries and veins under it, giving the victim a painless death.

She quickly repeated her action with the unconscious kunoichi beside him and then reached for her discarded cloak. Replacing it around her figure, she pulled the hood back up and continued her way through the forest.

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First off, all of the main characters around Naruto's age group will be 20 years old. I'm sure you all know that after adding 5 years to Sasuke's 15 years. Kakashi will be 34 years old.

Next up, when I said the woman in the fanfic had blue hair, try imagining Hinata's hair color but a bit darker. Almost looks like black if you're looking at this woman in a dark room.

Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Please leave reviews, telling me what you think or if you have any questions at all. I'll try my best to answer them so long as I don't have to reveal the rest of the plot. Actually, I don't have much of a plot yet. lol Still making it up.

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Disclaimer: This work is pure fiction. Any featured celebrities, people, books, or entertainment media sources are borrowed for fictitious fan writing only. There is no malicious, offensive, or libel intent to any person, those associated with the person.**

**©Midnight Blue Raven, 2008. Distribution of any kind is prohibited without the written consent of Midnight Blue Raven. 2008. Distribution of any kind is prohibited without the written consent of Midnight Blue Raven.**

09/24/2008.


	2. Hayato Or Sarutobi?

Well, no reviews yet but I'll update anyway. Thanks again to my wonderful beta-reader, Amarxlen. She's the best!

The disclaimer is at the bottom.

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_**02 / Hayato Or Sarutobi?**_

Tsunade heaved a tired sigh as she took a sip of her sake. Mountains of paper were piled on her desk and the table looked as if it would give way any moment. She slowly reached for the scroll before her. Reading it again for the third time in the past hour, she heaved another sigh before placing it back on to the table. "Damn you, Sarutobi Asuma. If you were still here, you'd know how to deal with her." She quietly muttered under her breath.

Before she could hold in her anger, she picked up a random scroll and threw it at the windows, smashing the glass in the process. She heard the sound of the scroll hitting a roof beneath her office. She growled as she reached for her cup but her chakra-induced strength smashed the cup into pieces in her hold.

She slowly made her way to the now broken windows and watched people below going through their everyday lives, as the warm air brushed past her into her office. Only if her life was as simple as theirs was. But no, she had to be chosen to be the Fifth, and she was the one dealing with the situation right now.

Tsunade took a moment to think carefully about her current situation and think of another way to solve it but came up with none whatsoever. She quickly called for Shizune. Once the young woman was in the office, she quickly handed her the scroll from which she had been reading earlier.

"I need some suggestions," she spoke as she watched the sun setting.

After a few moments, Shizune looked up. "She might not be able to handle ANBU yet, considering her past and her being unpredictable. Maybe placing her in Team Kakashi is the only solution."

Tsunade sighed. "I was hoping to avoid that. Their team is big enough as it is. Soon enough, they'll be chosen as the biggest ninja team."

"But it's the only way. Besides, Yamato and Sai have to go on ANBU missions every now and then. They might be away sometimes. Kakashi-san can keep an eye on her while Naruto maybe able to befriend her. Also, she and Sasuke might get along, considering the fact that they're pretty similar in some ways," Shizune reasoned.

Tsunade waved her hand. "That seems to be our only option right now. Well, I think she'll arrive in two more days. Start preparing for her arrival. Find her a decent, spacious apartment and other necessities you think she might need. Make sure to find her apartment where the ANBU can keep an eye on."

Shizune bowed and left the room, leaving Tsunade deep in thought. "Why did you have to come back now?" The Fifth spoke as she took another sip of her sake.

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Kakashi flipped a page of his Icha Icha book absentmindedly as his eye grazed over his team. This was the first time in three weeks that all six members were present, since Yamato and Sai had gone on those ANBU missions again. As of now, Naruto and Sasuke were sparring, just for fun, while Yamato and Sakura watched as Sai drew another amazing picture.

All the members of the former Team 7 were now chunnins. Naruto was the same as ever though, competing with Sasuke despite their close bond. Sometimes, it pissed off Sakura very much while Sai only got confused. Over the past years, Sai may have gotten close to the team and learn about certain emotions, but he still had no idea about others.

Kakashi smiled; even though the whole team annoyed him to no end when they were together, he still had to admit that he would never trade them for anything else. They had become like a second family to him.

Of course, Sasuke's return 5 years ago had surprised everyone. Everyone was cautious around him after his abrupt arrival since he acted the same way he had while being with Orochimaru. But Naruto, being himself, had accepted him easily and soon the whole team followed suit, afterwards everyone in Konoha welcomed him again.

Currently, the team looked as if Sasuke hadn't even left at all. As Naruto had put it, they were one big, happy family again. Even though Sasuke was back, no one still knew his reason for coming back, he never told anyone, not even Naruto. And everyone was interested, including Kakashi.

"Kakashi-san!" A loud cry broke him from his train of thoughts. He looked down to find a teenage Konohamaru waving at him from beneath the tree, where he was sitting.

"Yo!" He replied with a lazy wave of his hand.

"Tsunade-sama wants to see you. She said it was extremely important and you are to report to her immediately."

Kakashi sighed. Seriously, was there anything that wasn't important when it came to Tsunade? It would still be a serious matter if Shizune had forgotten her sake. Anything that revolved around her was considered important.

He nodded towards Konohamaru and then to Yamato, telling him to watch the team before disappearing in a small cloud of smoke.

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Shizune cringed as another crash was heard from Tsunade's office, probably Tsunade throwing something against the wall. This had been going on the whole morning and even she hadn't dared to go in to interrupt the meeting.

She looked away from the door as she heard footsteps approaching. She rolled her eyes as the silver-haired jounin standing before her gave her an eye crease, which meant he was smiling, and waved at her casually. It wasn't like she could see his smile anyway.

She sighed before making her way towards Tsunade's office door hesitantly. "I'll inform her and make sure you don't say anything wrong because as you may have noticed, she's already in a bad mood."

Kakashi nodded as he waited for her to enter the room. Once Shizune had closed the door behind her, he was about to reach for his Icha Icha book in his back pouch when a certain folder on Shizune's desk caught his attention.

Normally he wasn't curious but this folder looked like one of those personal information files. He quickly reached for the folder and noticed the ANBU seal on the front black cover, which confirmed his suspicions; it was an ANBU file. He knew it wasn't his business and that it was illegal but he flipped the cover open before scanning his eyes on the information. He noticed a photo of a woman stuck on the left-hand corner of the paper. It was definitely a personal information file.

He looked at the picture carefully. The woman seemed to be in her mid-twenties. She had dark blue hair that framed a pretty but pale face. She had on an emotionless expression, which didn't go well at all with her features. She had sapphire–blue eyes, a cute little nose and pink full lips, which would look even better if they had been in a pout. He slowly shook himself. Icha Icha was really getting to him these days. He let his eyes scan over the rest of her information.

**Name:** Hayato Yukari

**Rank: **Jounin

**Birthdate:** October 28

**Age:** 27

**Height: **170cm

**Weight:** 59kg

**Gender:** Female

**Blood Type: **AB

**Hair Color:** Dark Blue

**Eye Color:** Blue

**Affiliation:** Konohagakure

**Previous Occupation(s):** ANBU

**Family: **Sarutobi Hiruzen (Grandfather, Deceased)

Sarutobi Hikari (Mother, Deceased)

Sarutobi Asuma (Uncle, Deceased)

Sarutobi Konohamaru (Cousin)

**Nature Type:** Water (Main)

Lightning (Secondary)

Wind (Secondary)

**Weapons: **Zai

**Summoning Jutsu:** Dark blue tiger, Hoshi (abilities still unconfirmed)

Kakashi's eyebrows rose as he reread the first page. Was she really the Third's granddaughter? But that was unheard of! Then again, her mother did come from the same clan as the Third, Asuma and Konohamaru. If that were the case, then it meant that she was Asuma's sister! No one ever spoke of her, not even Asuma, his fellow jounin. Why hadn't anyone said anything about her mother too?

And if this Hayato Yukari really was the Third's granddaughter, why was she only making an appearance now? Why did she and her mother leave the village in the first place and how had they been able to stay hidden all these years? It didn't make sense to him at all.

All these questions only made him more curious about her. He wanted to know more and was about to turn the page to continue reading, when another hand snatched the file from his grasp. He was about to take it back from whoever had taken it when he noticed Shizune glaring at him.

He'd been so engrossed in that file that he hadn't even heard her approaching. His left hand quickly went up to rub the back of his neck and he gave her another eye crease.

Shizune sighed softly before speaking. "That's confidential. Now go on in. Tsunade-sama is waiting for you."

He nodded before starting his way towards the Hokage's room, not knowing that he would have found the answers to his questions, if he had read the information on the next page of that file.

He entered the room and Tsunade motioned for him to close the door to which he complied. His eyes studied the room, which, at the moment, resembled a war zone with scrolls covering every corner of the floor. Tsunade was probably having one of her rages again.

His eyes slowly landed on another person standing before Tsunade's desk. She was wearing a white, long-sleeved coat that reached her ankles. It obviously hid her clothes underneath and concealed any weapons she had on her body. For a moment, she reminded him of Anko in that coat.

The only parts of her that he could see were her long, dark blue hair, which was in a neat French braid and her wrists that were covered in bindings before disappearing into fingerless gloves, similar to his. There were bindings around her ankles before they too disappeared into the standard ankle-high sandals.

Tsunade cleared her throat, attracting his attention. "Hatake," she spoke towards him before motioning a hand towards the woman standing beside him. "This is Hayato Yukari. She will be in your team from now on."

Kakashi nodded without any questions and turned to study the woman. She too turned to look at him for the first time since his entry. He finally noticed the fact that she was the same woman, whose file he had snooped around earlier.

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Well, I'd really appreciate it if people started leaving comments. Comments always encourage us, writers.

**Disclaimer: This work is pure fiction. Any featured celebrities, people, books, or entertainment media sources are borrowed for fictitious fan writing only. There is no malicious, offensive, or libel intent to any person, those associated with the person.**

**©Midnight Blue Raven, 2008. Distribution of any kind is prohibited without the written consent of Midnight Blue Raven.**

10/10/2008.


	3. Meeting Team Kakashi

I'm clearly disappointed that there's only been 2 reviews after I've been slaving myself weeks to get a new chapter out. Sigh, oh well, I'm not one to give up. Hope people will leave more replies. :)

Thanks to Amarxlen, my beta. :) She rocks!

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03 / Meeting Team Kakashi**_

Kakashi's eyes never left the woman walking beside him as they left Tsunade's office. This woman-Hayato Yukari- was such an interesting person. And being related to Asuma as well as the Third certainly made things more interesting. Kakashi could feel thousands of questions popping up in his mind already but he knew better than to assault a new shinobi with his questions. He could probably ask either Tsunade or Shizune later on.

But at the moment, despite not knowing anyone around her, she was still walking with an air of authority that demanded nothing but respect from whoever was talking to her or walking beside her. He knew jounins were supposed to be respected and fearless but the way she was, it was evident that she didn't give a damn about anything that others thought of her.

Once they were outside the Hokage Tower, Kakashi stopped and turned towards her. Noticing that he had stopped walking, she turned to him with a raised eyebrow. It was only then that Kakashi saw what she was wearing underneath her white coat. She had a black top and a loose pair of trousers. Her weapon pouches and holsters were in their respected places.

Even though he was the one who had stopped, she was the one who initiated the conversation. "Is there a place where I can take a quick shower?"

Involuntarily, Kakashi found himself staring at her full, rosy lips. Shaking his head, he gathered his concentration and looked up at her eyes. "Excuse me?"

"I've been travelling nonstop for a few days. I'd like to take a quick shower before meeting the team. And since my apartment still isn't prepared yet, I really don't have any place to take a shower."

Kakashi nodded. "There's the hot springs," he suggested.

She shook her head softly. "I don't have time to relax. I just need a quick shower. Perhaps, your apartment?"

Kakashi cleared his throat. "It might look inappropriate to some people. There's a girl on our team. If you want, I could ask her." He, sure as hell, wasn't going to let her into his apartment. Not many people had been there, except for the few women he had shared some intimate encounters with. And he was starting to feel uneasy about what he might do or try to do if they were left alone somewhere private.

Even right now, he couldn't stop himself from glancing indiscreetly at her full, rosy lips, or from studying her round, not to mention beautiful eyes, from which he could probably learn a lot of things if he had more time to pay attention to.

Her nearly flawless skin which was somewhat pale and looked as if it were carved from marble seemed to be taunting him, making him want to touch or just reach out and caress her smooth cheek. He was already starting to wonder how her skin and lips would feel under his touch, whether they would truly feel as soft as they looked.

Kakashi mentally kicked himself as he tried to concentrate on what she was saying. Where had all these absurd ideas come from? It wasn't like him to get captivated by a single woman so easily. This was totally unheard of, even for someone like him, who couldn't be surprised easily like everyone else. For Kami's sake, he spent so much time with Naruto, the only ninja who kept coming up with jutsus which were both surprising and successful, that he didn't have time to be surprised or amazed at all. But right now, he was experiencing something that had never happened before and he didn't know why or even how it was possible.

He watched as Yukari nodded with what resembled a smile playing on her lips. "That'd be great."

Kakashi motioned for her to follow him as he walked in the direction of the training grounds. Between them, he tried to keep as much distance as possible without attracting her attention. Once they'd reached the gates, he told her to wait and he went on and looked for a certain pink-haired shinobi.

"Sakura!"

Sakura looked up, from her previous position, which was crouching over Sai's shoulders to study his paintings. She walked briskly over to her team leader and stopped before him.

"Yes, Kakashi sensei?"

"You'll find a blue-haired woman standing at the gate. She's a kunoichi from our village and is under Tsunade's orders. She just got here and her apartment isn't ready yet. Right now, she said she wants a shower so I was wondering if you could help her."

"A shower?" Sakura looked at him in disbelief. "What's wrong with your place sensei?"

Kakashi cleared his throat. "I don't think that's appropriate."

Sakura's eyes almost fell out of their sockets. A kunoichi had asked Kakashi for a shower and he had refused to let her into his apartment. That was strange. Konoha's number one pervert had turned down the chance to have a kunoichi inside his apartment. This wasn't like him at all.

Finally, deciding that her questions could wait, Sakura nodded. "I'll be back then sensei." She hinted in her voice that he would have to answer some questions when she was back.

Sakura skipped over to the gate and looked left and right. She wanted to know what this woman looked like since Kakashi was clearly avoiding her. Was this woman that unattractive that even he had turned down her offer to be in the same room with her? Absentmindedly, she started to imagine all the things that this woman might have.

However, she could not avoid widening her eyes when she saw the blue-haired kunoichi. She was far from what she had imagined. She had long hair, a beautiful face and a nice figure. Judging by her appearance, she looked like she was a few years her senior. Sakura couldn't understand why Kakashi had refused to let this attractive woman into his apartment.

She slowly walked up to the woman and gave a small polite bow. "Kakashi sensei said you needed help."

The woman stood up straight from her previous leaning position. She nodded. "I was wondering if I could use the shower at your place. I just arrived in Konoha today and my place isn't ready yet."

"Of course, please follow me." Sakura led the way towards the busier parts of Konoha. The two of them had to avoid the children running around on the streets.

Feeling uncomfortable with the silence, Sakura spoke. "I'm Haruno Sakura, by the way. I'm a medic nin but I'm still a chunnin." She offered with a smile.

To her pleasure, the woman returned a small smile. "Nice to meet you. I'm Hayato Yukari."

Sakura turned back to the road. "So, you said you just got here. Are you a ninja from another village?"

There was a slight pause before Yukari answered. "No, I'm a leaf ninja. I've just been away for a rather long time." Sakura nodded to show that she was listening and Yukari continued. "I decided to return to Konoha and just stay here instead of going around."

Sakura finally built up the courage she had to ask the question that had been bugging her. "So, are you close with Kakashi sensei? I mean…..it's not everyday that he comes up to me and asks me to help another woman." She tried not to sound too curious, but her voice was giving away her curiosity.

"Actually, I just met him for the first time about an hour ago." The answer was simple and Sakura couldn't tell whether Yukari was telling the truth or not. But she decided to let it go for the moment. She'd bug Kakashi later.

Sakura stopped in front of a small building. "Well, this is it. I rent a room upstairs," she said, pointing to the window on the second floor."

She led the way up the stairs in silence and opened the door to her small room. She stood in the middle of the room and turned to look at Yukari. "It doesn't have much but since I'm a ninja, I'm not here much so doesn't really matter."

Yukari nodded. "Look, you don't have to wait for me here. You can go back if you want and I can come when I'm done." She wasn't about to have someone outside wait for her while she finished her shower.

Sakura gave her a skeptical look. "You sure? I don't want to get scolded by sensei."

Yukari let a small smile grace her lips. "I insist and I don't think it has anything to do with him. He won't scold you, and even if he does, I'll talk to him for you."

Sakura puffed up her cheeks with air and nodded. "Ok then. I'll see you later." She closed the door behind her as she left.

Sakura jumped on the roofs of the houses as she made her way back to the training ground. She couldn't wait to find out who this Hayato Yukari was. It had been sometime since she'd actually seen Kakashi with another woman. She was sure that Naruto would have no problem bugging Kakashi once she'd told him.

She breathed heavily as she walked casually into the training area. Kakashi was reading his porn as usual on a tree while Yamato sat against the same tree's trunk. Sai, Sasuke and Naruto were lying on their backs on the grass and talking.

She stopped directly in front of those three and looked down as they looked up at her. Naruto grinned as he greeted her. "Hi Sakura chan! Where were you? You should have seen me beat Sasuke's ass back in the sparring match!"

Beside him, Sasuke scoffed as he folded his arms on his chest and mumbled something, which could have been a 'hmph'.

Sakura cleared her throat. "Hey Naruto, I met a new leaf kunoichi just now. Kakashi sensei was the one who asked me to take her to my place because she needed a shower. Don't you find that the least bit suspicious?" That certainly grabbed the blond's attention, along with the other two guys.

"Is she Kakashi sensei's new girlfriend?" Naruto asked as he sat up.

Sasuke didn't say anything although he watched and listened carefully. Sai, on the other hand, sat up and had an eager expression on his face. Through the years they had been together, the three of them: Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura, mostly with Sasuke's help anyway, had somehow managed to teach Sai more about emotions and now the guy acted as normal as he could ever be around other people.

"Hey Naruto, why don't you try and get something out of sensei?" Sakura suggested.

"What is this girlfriend you are talking about?" Sai asked, sounding curious. "Is it a girl who is Kakashi-san's friend?"

But nobody bothered to explain to him. Sasuke wasn't interested while Sakura and Naruto were debating on ways to make Kakashi spill the beans. Finally, Naruto stood up and walked over to where Kakashi was with a grin on his face. From the corner of his eyes, Sasuke watched him. The guy just had to mess with everything. He sighed, well he wouldn't be Naruto if he didn't.

Stopping directly under the branch where Kakashi was on, Naruto opened his mouth to speak. "She's not my girlfriend." That totally caught him off guard.

"Who is she then?" Naruto pressed on with a skeptical look and a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"I don't know. I just met her for the first time this morning. She'll be here later on. So just wait till then." Kakashi replied lazily as he turned another page.

By now, Yamato was also listening intently to the two of them. "What is it Naruto?"

"Yamato-taichou! Kakashi sensei has a new girlfriend and he's keeping it a secret!" Naruto yelled and pointed a finger at Kakashi like a five year old would if he had been bullied by some older kid.

Yamato shook his head lightly. "I don't think that's true Naruto. Do you think Kakashi-senpai would go around advertising his girlfriend? I don't think so. Senpai is more secretive and all." He countered with a smirk as Naruto had a defeated look on his face. "But still, it wouldbe an interesting matter if he _did_ have a girlfriend." Yamato continued as he eyed his senpai and the mischievous grin found its way back on to Naruto's face.

Kakashi closed his book with a sigh. He jumped down on to the ground and turned to Yamato. "She's not my girlfriend! She's just a new team member." He nearly growled at them but was able to keep up the nonchalant façade.

"A new team member?" Naruto asked, his eyes becoming as wide as they could be. "But our team is big enough as it is! And I don't want another person from ANBU if that's where she's from. Wouldn't want a girl version of Sai." He folded his arms in front of his chest while glaring daggers at Sai.

Before Kakashi could say anything to assure Naruto that she wasn't a girl version of Sai, the subject of their discussion materialized a few feet from them. He studied her. She had obviously cleaned up and was now wearing a short sleeved black top which slightly resembled the top part of a qipao, much similar to what Sakura usually wore, but only shorter since it stopped right above her navel, exposing an inch or so of her flat abdomen. Not to mention the fact that her navel was pierced, with a small jewel stud placed in it.

Her hitai-ate was placed around her forehead, keeping her dark blue strands out of her eyes. Her dark green pants, which hung loosely to her hips, ended tightly just below her knees. Her wrists were wrapped in bindings before they disappeared into the same fingerless gloves that he wore. The skin around her ankle was also wrapped before her feet, too, disappeared into the open sandals.

Her kunai holster was wrapped around her right thigh just like everyone else in Konoha while the belt around her waist indicated that her shuriken pouch was on the back of her waist as well. But, there were two silvery objects hanging from the belt on each side of her waist, probably some kind of weapon. From his position, they were half hidden under the vest and Kakashi couldn't make out what they were.

The thing that caught Kakashi's attention the most was the jounin vest that she wore. Not many kunoichi wore the vest. It was mostly favored by the male shinobi but here she was, wearing the vest over her top and it was unzipped all the way. Moreover, she didn't look one bit strange with the vest. She looked quite good actually.

Kakashi shook his head. What was wrong with him? Why was he getting these perverted thoughts? She was a complete stranger to her and he didn't even know how she fought or what jutsu she was specially trained in.

He slowly walked over to her and looked her up and down. "Feeling refreshed now?"

She nodded. "I'm ready to meet the team now."

Kakashi turned back to his team and cleared his throat. "Everyone, this is Hayato Yukari and she will be joining Team Kakashi starting from today."

Yukari looked around. All the members had different expressions on; the blond was openly staring at her pierced navel while another guy, probably a high ranked shinobi, was trying his best to keep his eyes from staring at the same thing as well.

The girl she had met earlier, Sakura was offering a small smile while another pale looking boy was outright smiling at her. But the person that caught her attention was neither one of them. It was the ebony haired boy, who was glaring daggers at her from his sitting position beside the pale boy.

"YOU!"

* * *

**Disclaimer: This work is pure fiction. Any featured celebrities, people, books, or entertainment media sources are borrowed for fictitious fan writing only. There is no malicious, offensive, or libel intent to any person, those associated with the person.**

**©Midnight Blue Raven, 2008. Distribution of any kind is prohibited without the written consent of Midnight Blue Raven.**

11/10/2008.


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